Unexpected Enemies
by JustJustine014
Summary: The rangers have faced several monsters, but none of them would be as difficult as handling their newest enemies.
1. Two out of Five

It was finally Friday for the Megaforce rangers. After a long week of school, they finally had an enjoyable weekend to look forward to. All five rangers had planned to meet up after class to go to Ernie's BrainFreeze so they could hang out.

Meanwhile, Emma was walking down the school halls alone and felt a little nervous when she saw numerous eyes staring at her.

"Hey! If you're going to stare at something, then how about you stare at my fist? It's about to end up on someone's face if you keep giving my friend those weird looks." Gia threatened as she caught up to Emma. After Gia's threat everyone looked away in fear and went back to their own business.

"Thanks Gia." The story of Emma's abusive father had gone viral on the news. Even though she refused to talk to any reporters, the news would still make up crazy things just to get views. They would lie and say things like Emma shot the gun to defend herself, or that she went crazy after getting abused. Of course Emma and her friends knew the truth, but not everyone was there to witness the incident. Unfortunately, these lies earned Emma a few unwanted stares from some people.

"You alright?" asked Gia.

"Yeah, they don't bother me as much anymore. It's just weird." Emma said honestly. "So are we still on for Ernie's?"

"I promised I would meet up with Jake to come up with some new strategies. Apparently Gosei said that Jake and I were like partners because we both control the land. If we're partners then we're going to have to know what we're doing. Do you mind if…."

"Go for it." Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"Are you going to be okay? I know how some of the others students are treating you like you're an outcast. I don't want to leave you."

"Just go Gia." Emma chuckled and gave her friend a light push. "I'll be fine. A few stares aren't going to kill me."

"We'll meet you up at BrainFreeze, I promise!" Gia turned around and walked off looking for Jake.

-Unexpected Enemies-

After a few minutes of searching for Jake, she finally caught him walking right outside of the school.

"Hey!" Jake waved and greeted Gia with a smile.

"Ready to go?" asked Gia as she walked beside him

"Yup." And with that, they started walking to Ernie's.

"Maybe we can talk about our new strategies on our way to Ernie's BrainFreeze. If we walk there, then that should give us enough time to discuss everything."

"Sure." And with that, they started walking to Ernie's.

Can I help you carry your bag or anything?" Jake stuck out his hand offering his help.

"Jake," Gia groaned. "I already said that we're strictly friends. I'm not looking for a relationship right now."

"I know." Jake smiled. "But I can still be a kind friend."

"Fine." Gia handed over her backpack to Gia. "Just don't give me special attention alright? I don't need the others to think we're more than just teammates."

"Look Gia, I don't want to seem like I'm pushing it or anything. I was just trying to do a nice thing for a friend. If Emma was here, then I would probably do the same thing."

"What about the guys?"

"They're guys." Jake smirked. "They can carry their own stuff."

"Oh, and us girls can't? What're you trying to say Holling?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Jake shot up his hands in defence.

"So what did you mean?" Now it was Gia's turn to smirk as she watched how nervous Jake was.

"Well… I meant…Uhh…"

"Relax; I was just messing with you." Gia laughed. "It's not like I'm going to take something like that seriously." Jake breathed a sigh a relief and put his hand on his neck in relief.

"Anyways, let's talk about what we're really supposed to. I noticed we're all getting better individually, but I think our teamwork could do better. I was hoping to explain one of my ideas to you so you could help me explain it to the others."

Jake nodded his head and focused on Gia's words.

"Since Emma and Noah have the long range weapons, I was thinking that they could attack first. It'll injure the enemy and distract it long enough for you and me to pin down the monster."

"Uhh Gia."

You could use your snake axe and I could use my tiger claw to hold the monster still.

"Gia…"

Then, Troy could use his dragon sword to finish off the monster easily."

"Gia!" Gia finally turned and glared at Jake. "What! I was trying to explain my idea."

Jake grabbed Gia's shoulders and faced her towards the dozens of loogies.

Gia's eyes widened. "Oh…"

"I'll call the others." Jake said as he grabbed his morpher.

"Oh no you won't!" Suddenly, Jake's morpher was ripped out of his hands by a mysterious monster. "What the…"

"It's morphin' time!" Gia morphed into her yellow Megaforce suit and tried her best to defend against the swarm of loogies.

At first, it was easy to defend herself and Jake, but more and more loogies kept taking place of the ones Gia defeated. When she killed two loogies, four more would just take its place. It was proving to overwhelm the single ranger. Gia tried her best to fend them off, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle it. She would call the others for help, but she was a little bit busy trying to save her own life along with Jake's.

"Loogies! Cease fire!"

"Woah!" Jake was roughly grabbed by the new monster. "Let me go!"

Gia heard Jake's plea and turned around. The enemy couldn't see it, but Gia was glaring furiously at the blue monster. Her anger only grew once she recognized the alien.

"Let him go Vrak!" yelled a furious Gia.

"Come peacefully to me now, or else your precious black ranger will be the one to pay." Vrak threatened as he pointed his sword to Jake's neck.

"Don't do it Gia!" cried Jake.

"Shut up you filthy human!" Vrak kept his grip on Jake and gave him a firm punch to the stomach, causing the black ranger to double over in pain. Before Jake could get back up, Vrak pointed his sword to Jake's neck once again. Vrak looked over to Gia, waiting impatiently for an answer.

"I don't have all day!" Vrak pointed the tip of his sword closer to Jake.

Gia clutched her tiger claw tighter, but couldn't take the risk. Gia let out a frustrated cry and demorphed, dropping her morpher on the ground.

"Loogies, grab them!" Vrak commanded. And in one swift motion, Jake and Gia were grabbed aggressively by their arms. Vrak walked over to Gia's fallen morpher and picked it up with a smile.

"Two down, three more to go." Vrak and his new prisoners were then swiftly teleported away in a dark blue light.


	2. The Chip

Troy, Noah, and Emma had been waiting inside Ernie's BrainFreeze for over an hour. Noah already called Jake twice, and Emma gave Gia several calls/texts. None of them could figure out why they weren't answering their phones, and why they weren't Ernie's yet. After all, they have been talking about this all day.

"Do you think they're okay?" asked a visibly worried Emma.

"I'm sure they're fine." said Troy. "Maybe they just lost track of time."

"But Gia promised that she would meet us here. We never break our promises, we take them pretty seriously."

"Plus, that wouldn't explain why they didn't pick up their phones or respond to a simple text." Noah pointed out.

"Maybe they wanted some alone time." Troy shrugged his shoulders. "They have been spending a lot more time together, maybe they hooked up or something."

Emma glared at Troy and slapped his arm.

"Ow." Troy rubbed his arm sadly. "I was just saying…"

"First of all, Gia isn't even looking for a relationship right now. She wants her first boyfriend to be the one, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, and Jake knows that Gia doesn't want to date. He wouldn't be pushy about it, he's not like that." added Noah.

Emma looked around to make sure no one listening and whispered, "What if something happened to them on their way here? I mean, we do live in a city where aliens are practically invading it. Their main targets would be us because we're pretty much Harwood's only defense."

"That's ridiculous. If there was an alien attack, then Gosei would've alerted us." Just then, their morphers went off. Troy groaned, "I guess I stand corrected."

Noah and Emma gulped; worried that something may have happened to their respective best friends.

"Let's go." Troy got up andsignaled for the others to follow him. They were able to find a small alley right outside the store and checked around to make sure no one was watching.

"Coast is clear." said Noah.

The three remaining rangers took out their morphers and teleported to the command center. Once they were there, they took a step forward and looked to Gosei for an answer.

"Gosei, do you know where Jake and Gia are?" asked a hopeful Noah

"I'm sorry rangers." Tensou rolled over to them and gave the most apologetic look a robot could ever give. "I'm afraid that we're not sure either. We haven't picked up on any sights of a major monster attack."

"So then why did you call us here?" Troy asked.

"We didn't notice any monster attacks, but we did notice the sudden disappearance of the yellow and black ranger's signals. We tried to pinpoint their location, but our attempts weren't successful." Gosei said. "We were hoping that you would know why they dissapeared, but it appears that you aren't quite sure either."

"When did their signals go missing?"

"About thirty minutes ago." The little robot responded.

"Why are we just hearing this now then?" said a frustrated Emma who was clearly upset.

"We weren't sure what was happening either. One moment they're there, and then the next moment, they're completely gone."

"Tensou, where exactly is there?" By now, Troy was already pacing nervously around the room.

"It's about twenty minutes away from your high school. I can teleport you to the same coordinates where the yellow and black ranger went missing if you'd like."

"That'd be great. You guys coming?" Troy paused and looked to Emma who seemed eager to come.

"I'll stay here with Tensou and Gosei." said Noah who was already getting to work on the command center's computers. "I think I'll be more of a help here. I can help them track down wherever Jake and Gia are."

"I guess it's just you and me then. You ready?" Emma gave him a quick nod.

"Okay Tensou, we're ready." A flash of pink and red then exited the command to wherever Tensou had sent them.

-Unexpected Enemies-

When Jake came to, he was immediately confused to where the heck he was at. He then remembered the whole battle, and started to explore the area. It was a dark and rocky area, perhaps a cave. The first thing he spotted was an semi-conscious Gia on the ground a few feet away from him.

"Gia!" He tried to run over to her, but was suddenly pulled back. It was only then that he noticed that there were chains restraining him on his arms and legs. He looked back to Gia and noticed that she was in the same exact situation.

"Well, look who's awake already." Jake turned around and saw Vrak staring down at him and immediately glared back.

"What do you want?" Jake spitted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Vrak gave off a sly grin. "I want you and your ranger team. You pesky rangers have been meddling with my plans for far too long."

"And we'll keep doing it for as long as we have to." Gia retorted back.

"Gia! You're okay!"

"Great, now both of you can be prepped."

"Prepped?" Jake questioned with a confused look.

"Why of course. I can't have you rangers messing with all of my plans."

"Just because you have us in here doesn't mean our friends will stop fighting for us."

"Oh, they won't be fighting for you…" Vrak smirked evilly. "They'll be fighting against you."

"What makes you think that we would fight against our friends?" Gia growled.

"You won't have a choice." Vrak pulled something from behind his back. It was barely noticeable, but Gia and Jake could see a small, silver, chip.

"Once this is on you," Vrak extended his arm to reveal the tiny chip." You'll be completely under my control and my control only."

Jake and Gia looked at each other nervously, not sure how to handle this tight situation. Vrak laughed maniacally when he saw their reactions. "Don't worry, you won't be able to control your actions or words one bit. You won't remember what you'll do as you do it, but you'll remember it as soon as I release you from the control."

Suddenly, Vrak's face got serious. He walked up to Gia and put his face to her face closely. "You pathetic rangers will pay for everything you've done. You'll suffer knowing that your friends will be killed by you. I can't wait to hear the screams of a certain pink ranger." In return, Gia let out the biggest spitball she could manage.

"Don't you dare touch my friends!" Gia yelled as she head butted Vrak.

Vrak let out a frustrated scream and wiped his face. "You'll be tamed soon enough. Loogies!" Vrak called. "Hold them still!

In a matter of seconds, a group of loogies appeared and restrained their arms.

"You'll never get away with this!" Gia screamed as she fought to escape.

"I just did." Vrak grabbed Gia's hair and placed the chip on the back of her neck, making sure that it was hidden well. Gia tried to fight the control, but she could feel it etching in her mind already. Before she knew it, she had a weird feeling to actually listen to Vrak. It was almost as if she wanted to obey him.

Vrak smiled as he saw the chip taking effect as Gia stopped struggling. Jake's eyes widened as he witnessed what had happened.

"Gia, you need to fight it!" said Jake as he struggled more against the loogies. Minutes later, Jake managed to knock down his pair of loogies. Vrak saw and he snapped his fingers.

Vrak bent over and unlocked her cuffs. "Yellow, grab the boy and hold him still." Gia looked up, her eyes empty and void of any emotion. She slowly got up and walked over to Jake.

"Please Gia, you need to fight it!" Jake pleaded.

"It's no use." Vrak laughed. "There's nothing you can do."

Gia grabbed Jake and pinned him down to keep him still. "Gia, stop it!" Jake tried to pry her off, but the chains holding him were proving to be a challenge.

"It'll all be over soon enough black ranger." Vrak chuckled and placed the second chip on the back of Jake's neck.

 **Announcement: Unfortunately, I'll be out of town to visit some family for a week. I won't have access to a computer, therefore I won't have the opportunity to update. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I'll try to update as soon as I come back. Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed my story. Please leave a review! They motivate me to continue writing, and I just love reading them. :)**


	3. Friendly Fights

Troy and Emma were roaming around the streets and going door to door to ask people if they've seen Gia or Jake. Unfortunately, no one knew where they were at or where they could be. They searched for hours, but had no luck whatsoever. Time was passing by, and the night was approaching soon.

"Emma, I think we need to head back." said Troy.

"We can't give up yet! They might be relying on us!" Emma in the other direction and continued to search the streets.

"It's already getting dark. We probably only have an hour or two left before it gets pitch black."

"Then I'll keep looking all night. The darkness isn't going to scare me when we have two of our friends missing." said a worried Emma.

Troy sighed knowing that arguing would do nothing. He just hoped that they would find something soon, or else he would be forced to take Emma home. He couldn't afford to have another teammate go missing."

"Troy! I found something!" Troy shifted his attention to Emma and stood behind her.

"Whose is that?"

"It's Gia and Jake's backpack." Emma held up the yellow and grey backpacks to show Troy, and then quickly rummaged through it. "Their morphers aren't in here either."

"Wait a second, if they're morphers aren't in their backpacks, then their morphers might be on them. If they have their morphers with them, then…"

"Tensou could track them down that way." Emma finished.

"Emma, could you…"

"I'm already on it." Emma pulled out her morpher and contacted Tensou. She held it out and put the device on speaker. "Tensou, we have an idea. Instead of trying to find where Gia and Jake were last seen, try tracking them through their morphers."

On the other end, the little robot face palmed himself with his robotic hands and then rolled his eyes. "How did I not think of that? Gee, I'm supposed to be a super computer robot, and I couldn't even think of that?"

"Sometimes you just have to think simple." Noah shrugged his shoulders and then typed away on the computer.

"Can you track them down?" asked Troy.

"I already got it." responded Noah. He looked closer at the results and then gave a confused look. "Um… according to these results, they should be right behind you."

"What? That can't be…."

Suddenly, Troy was interrupted when two quick shots were blasted at their feet.

"What the hell?" Troy and Emma turned around and saw an un-morphed Gia and Jake training their blasters on them.

"Gia…?" Emma took a small step forward, but Gia responded by shooting at her feet again.

When Emma looked at her friend's eyes they seemed different. It was like Gia was there, but she wasn't there at the same time. She knew Gia would rather die than to double-cross her best friend. Emma knew all of this, but she couldn't figure out why she would do something like this. Something must've happened.

Meanwhile, Troy was just as confused. The rangers only knew each other for a few months, but he couldn't imagine any one of them betraying each other. Jake was best friends with Noah, and Gia was best friends with Emma. They were all friends, and had shown time and time again that they were loyal to one another. Hell, Gia even took charge when he got too tired to fight in the megazord. It didn't add up.

"Gia, Jake…" Troy raised his hands to show she meant no harm. "Put the guns down."

"No." Gia smirked and then fired at Troy. Luckily, Troy had enough sense to move out of the way just in time.

"Hey, slow down there." Jake stuck out his arm to block Gia and then faced her. "Master Vrak ordered us to take them back alive, remember? He won't be very pleased if they had a hole through their heads."

"Fine." Gia grumbled and put down her blaster.

"Master?" Emma questioned.

"Vrak?" Troy added.

Emma and Troy looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Jake and Gia were walking towards them with the intent look of fighting. Neither of them wanted to hurt their friends, but they had to get to the bottom of things. Troy trusted that Emma could use her care for her friends to fuel herself in the soon to be fight, but it was still risky. He knew that he was the best fighter on the team, but Jake and Gia were easily the second strongest. He took a deep breath and then charged for Jake, knowing that Emma would want to be the one to handle her best friend.

Troy ran up to Jake and threw a hesitant punch. Jake easily caught his fist and twisted Troy's arm behind his back. Troy let out a cry of pain, but then shifted his weight to his farthest leg to kick Jake backwards. Jake responded by rushing towards Troy, ready to throw a fury of punches.

Troy knew he was a good fighter and that he was pretty strong, but he also knew that Jake was physically stronger. The only problem was that Jake was a little sloppy when it came to technique. Troy silently thanked his parents for enrolling him in a martial arts class. Those lessons were proving to be paying off because Troy now had the endurance, strength, and technique; All of which he needed for this fight.

Troy carefully watched Jake run to him, and didn't bother moving. In one motion, he stepped to the side and swept kicked the black ranger.

"Looks like we're gonna have to do it the hard way." Jake growled as he picked himself off the ground. He reached inside his pocket and grabbed his morpher. "It's morphin' time." Jake morphed into his Megaforce suit and charged Troy once again."

"Go go Megaforce!" Troy called. He morphed just in time to block Jake's snake axe with his dragon sword.

On the other side of the street, Emma was still trying to talk some sense into her friend.

"This isn't you Gia!" Emma protested as she walked up to her friend. She couldn't hurt Gia after everything she's done for her. However, that doesn't mean she was going to give up on finding out what happened to her.

"Just hurry up and come with me peacefully. I'll knock you out as painlessly as possible. It'll make things a lot easier for me." Gia rolled her eyes and then knocked Emma to the ground.

Emma shook her head and got back up. "What happened to you? You never showed up at Ernie's, something must've happened between that time and now."

"Master Vrak taught us how to have real fun. We'll continue to enjoy serving him as his slaves. You can too if you just come with me now. Soon enough, we'll capture you anyways, might as well make it easier for yourself."

"Master? Slave? That blue piece of crap isn't your master, he's the enemy!"

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" Gia yelled as she kicked Emma in the stomach.

"He did something to you Gia!" Emma ran up to Gia and engulfed her in a hug. "You're not his slave, you're Gia Moran. The same Gia Moran who loves her friends, family, swimming, teasing people, and kicking alien ass." Emma opened her eyes and saw something on the back of Gia's neck. She couldn't recognize it, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't there before.

Suddenly, Emma was shoved off and then pushed to the ground. She looked up to see Gia standing over her. Emma got back up again, but was then hit with multiple punches, slaps, and kicks. However, Emma made no attempt to even block them.

By now, Emma was starting to get covered by cuts and bruises, but she continued to get up every time she was knocked down. Next thing she knew, she was thrown on top of a trash can.

"Come on, get back up." Gia roughly pulled Emma up by her shirt. "Why aren't you fighting back?"

"I'm not fighting my best friend. I know she's still in there."

"Sorry honey, she's not home right now." Gia let go of Emma and then jabbed her in the stomach. As a result, Emma fell down and clutched her stomach.

"I'm getting tired of this." Gia morphed into the yellow ranger. "Master Vrak never said that I didn't have to bring you back uninjured."

Gia stood over Emma and was ready to deliver the final strike.

"Emma, no!" Troy screamed when he saw what was about to happen. He ran as fast as he could to her, but was then tackled and pinned down by Jake.

"Have a nice nap pink ranger." Gia called upon her tiger claw and held it over Emma's face.

Emma didn't even flinch and just uttered one phrase. "You're the only family I have left. I know you won't hurt me, after all, we're sisters."

Gia's tiger claw was only inches away from Emma when she suddenly paused. For a moment, Emma could see her real friend inside the helmet and it gave her hope that her friend was still there.

Suddenly, a stream of blue knocked Gia and Jake off their feet unto the ground. Everyone looked over, and saw a morphed Noah holding his shark bow gun. Emma looked back to her friend and saw that the real Gia was gone again.

Jake quickly ran to Gia's side and was about to get back into the action until a hand touched him. Gia grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"We need to retreat. We can't beat them when there is three of them and only two of us."

"But we were so close. We can still take them on…"

"Now Jake." Gia's tone of voice was firm, and not to be questioned

He let out an angry mumble and then teleported away in a blue streak of light.

"Thanks for the save."

"What just happened?" asked Noah as he helped Troy up.

"I have no idea." Troy demorphed and walked, or rather limped, towards Emma. He expected her to be horrified, but then saw the look on her face. She seemed determined about something.

"You alright?" Troy extended his hand to help her up.

"Yeah." Emma gratefully took his hand and slowly got up.

"Why didn't you morph?"

"I needed Gia to see my real face. Something happened to her, and I don't think some girl in a pink costume would help Gia recognize me. Plus, I wasn't going to hurt my best friend. She's still in there, she could've finished me off, but she managed to stop herself."

"That doesn't mean that they're not dangerous." said Troy. "Look at what Gia did to you." He then pointed to the numerous new injuries Emma gained against her one-sided fight.

"What're you trying to say Troy?" asked Noah.

"I'm just saying that we need to be careful. We don't know what happened to them."

"But they would never do something like this." said Noah

"They just did. Look, I get that they're you best friends and all, but you just saw them attack us." Troy hated to be so harsh, but it was a fact. Gia and Jake attacked them because of orders from Vrak. Obviously Vrak had something to do with it, but he couldn't be too sure if they were doing it against their will or not. He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but he couldn't take the risk, especially when Vrak was involved.

"What if they're doing it against they're will?"

"What if they aren't?"

"They would never side with Vrak in their right mind." Noah frowned deeply at the red ranger.

"I'm just calling it as I see it, okay? I get he's your best friend…"

"I trust him with my life."

"Okay that's fine, but we still don't know what happened. Just… at least until then, please be careful.

"Fine." Noah sighed. He understood what Troy was saying, but he didn't know Jake like he did. He had full faith in his friend, so seeing him do what he just did was shocking. However, he trusted that there was a logical explanation behind it. For now, Noah would listen to Troy and try his best to find out what exactly happened.

"Wait a second." Noah looked around. "Where did Emma go?"


	4. Emma's Plan

Troy and Noah had searched for Emma for a few minutes, but had no luck whatsoever. Noah suggested that they could split up, but Troy refused. They'd be easier targets if they had split up, especially when there were only the two of them left. Troy hated to say it, but Noah was the weakest fighter on the team. If he got spotted, he would probably be easy to take out.

"How do we know she just didn't go home?" asked Noah

Troy gave Noah a funny look. "You really think she's going to rest at home when she knows that there is something wrong with Gia. Plus, she lives with Gia's parents. How would she give an explanation to her parents if she came home without Gia?"

"Good point, we better keep looking."

Little did the boys know, Emma was already inside the command center. She had left once Troy and Noah started arguing. In fact, she was surprised that they didn't even notice her abrupt departure. She needed answers, and she needed them now.

"Tensou, can you do me a favor?" asked Emma

"What is it?"

"Do you have access to Harwood's security cameras?"

"Why of course."

"Do you remember the coordinates you sent to me and Troy?"

"Yup."

"Can you play the security camera footage from the last 45 minutes from those coordinates then?"

"Do I look stupid?" The sarcastic robot pressed a few buttons and then transformed his chest area into a screen.

Emma watched closely until she found the right moment she was looking for.

"Wait, pause it right there!" Emma moved in closer and saw a clear picture of a mysterious chip on Gia's neck. "Tensou, can you scan the thing on Gia's neck?"

"I can't tell you too much because I don't have the actual item in front of me. All I know is that it's alien technology."

"Maybe that's what's controlling Jake and Gia!" Emma was thrilled that her friends didn't betray the team, but wasn't so thrilled at the thought of them being slaves to Vrak.

"If we manage to get those chips off, then they should be free from the control right?"

"Assuming that that's what the chip does, then yes. However, my sensors are indicating that if you remove it by hand while it's activated, it will damage their nervous systems.

"Crap." Emma knew she didn't have a lot more time before the boys returned to the command center. She was sure that Troy wouldn't allow her to go after them, but she didn't care. She couldn't leave them like that. She needed a solution fast

Emma paced around the command center until an idea struck her mind . "If we find a way to deactivate the chip electronically, then we should be able to remove it with no problem right?"

"Hypothetically, yes. However, how do you know that they are even being controlled by that thing?" Tensou pointed at the object on Gia's neck.

"I just know." Emma looked at Tensou without saying anything. Her eyes spoke volumes about her faith in her friends already.

"Do you think you could find a way to deactivate the chip?"

"It may take up a little time, but it shouldn't be too hard. Just give me a few minutes"

"Make at least three of them then."

"Why?"

"I have a plan."

-Unexpected Enemies-

An hour passed, and the boys still had no luck with finding Emma. They had searched the whole area, but didn't even spot her once.

"She's probably fine." Noah said when he saw the red ranger becoming nervous.

"We don't know even know what happened to her!"

"Maybe she was just upset so she took off."

"Then that would make her an easy target for Vrak.' Troy growled as he got up in Noah's face

"How about we just call her through our morphers? She wouldn't ignore that right?" Noah raised his hands and took a step backwards.

"Do it."

Noah contacted Emma through the morphers, but there was still no response. He tried multiple times before looking up at Troy and shaking his head.

"Maybe we can ask Tensou to find Emma."

They were out of choices, so Troy sighed and nodded his head. "Let's go."

Meanwhile, Emma was in the mountainside of Harwood. Emma turned off her morpher and then quickly put it away. She couldn't afford to be found, as a matter of fact, she didn't want to be found. She was purposely all alone and held something in her hand. She discreetly put it inside her pocket where it was secured and then looked around.

"Gia!" Emma called as she walked around.

"Got ya." Emma jumped back, startled by the sudden appearance of Gia and Jake.

"Grab her." Gia commanded. She was suspicious that the pink ranger was there by herself, so she needed this abduction to be fast. Troy and Noah could show up any second.

"Please, don't do this. We can help you." Jake quickly ran over and grabbed Emma firmly by her arms before she decided to escape

"We don't need your help." Jake snapped back.

"This isn't you! Vrak did something to you." Emma continued to plead while fighting against Jake's hold.

"I already told you, he has shown us the error of our ways." said Gia. "Let's just go before one of the other rangers show up."

Jake agreed and all three of them teleported away. The first thing Emma noticed was that she was in some sort of factory, After taking a quick look around, she assumed that she was in a nuclear power plant. After all, there were multiple doors with crossbone signs along with barrels that were literally labeled radioactive liquid. Then, she faced the other way and saw Vrak. Her face immediately turned sour and tried to escape Jake's hold once again.

"What did you do to them?" Emma screamed.

"You'll make the perfect final addition to this." Vrak grabbed Emma's chin roughly. "Now you rangers will be too busy fighting each other. Maybe you'll even kill each other too."

Emma responded by biting Vrak's hand as hard as she could.

"Ow! You insolent girl!" Vrak held his hand and then pointed to Jake. "Black, pin her down."

Jake nodded obediently and then pushed Emma up against the wall.

"Jake, stop it!"

"You were a fool to be out there alone." Vrak mocked. He took out another one of his brainwashing chips and placed it on the back of Emma's neck. Emma struggled against it, but stopped fighting after a few minutes.

Vrak smirked and then ordered the black ranger to let her go. "Welcome to the family." Vrak caressed her face and then took a step back. "Pink, go be a dear and get rid of those other two rangers."

Emma didn't say anything, or even make eye contact. She just left the factory siliently.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Vrak looked over and Jake and Gia. "Go with her!"

"Yes master." They both replied before following Emma.


	5. A Hesitant Fight

"What do you mean she was just here?" Troy raised his voice at the robot. They had just entered the command center and asked Tensou if they could track down Emma. Tensou became confused as to why they would need to know that considering Emma was just with him forty five minutes ago. Once he had finished the requested tool, Emma took it and sped off to somewhere.

"What else am I supposed to say? She teleported in here an hour ago." Tensou started shrinking back into a little corner.

"Where is she now?" Troy demanded.

"I don't know!"

"Find her." Troy growled as he walked up to him with anger in his eyes.

"Hey man, calm down." Noah stepped in and gently pushed Troy back. "Scaring the little guy like that isn't going to help anyone. I know you're worried and all, but you don't have to act like a dick."

Troy sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not just that. I'm the leader; I should be keeping them safe. It's my responsibility."

"Oh come on Troy," Noah said. "We face danger every day. I bet you that something like this is going to happen again. It's not like you'll be able to keep them safe 24/7."

"But I still have to try."

"This isn't even your fault. If anyone, it's the stupid alien's fault. They're the ones that are invading us."

"I know, I know. I still can't help, but feel responsible for this."

"Troy, you're the red ranger, but you're still human. You're not some God who can keep watch over everyone all the time. I hate it just as much as you, but we'll have to learn to get used to this. We'll get through this together"

Troy sighed, accepting his defeat. "I guess I'm still just learning how to be a leader."

"Stop trying to be so perfect, I think that's your problem man."

"Rangers!" Tensou interrupted. "I've managed to find their signals. They're at Oceana Parkway, it's near Harwood's nuclear power plant."

"Nuclear power plant?" Noah frowned deeply. Fights involved explosions, and explosions certainly did not mix well with nuclear power plants.

"We'll figure it all out later. For now, let's just go and see if we can talk some sense into them." Troy and Noah sprinted out of the command center. In record's time, they were at their destination and came face to face with Jake, Gia, and Emma.

"Emma." Troy begged. "Please, not you too."

Troy's stomach turned when he saw Emma and the others morph in front of him. Fighting Gia and Jake was hard enough, but now he had to fight the Emma? He had already promised himself that he would never lay a hand on any of his teammates, especially her.

"Troy!" Noah yelled as he tried to parry three rangers by himself. Troy snapped out of his thoughts and immediately morphed.

Troy sprinted towards Noah and grabbed Emma. Noah used this opportunity and called upon his bow gun. He carefully shot his arrow at Jake. However, instead of hitting the black ranger, it merely pinned down Jake.

Jake growled and attempted to pull out the arrow, but couldn't manage to get it out. The blue ranger let out a breath of relief. Now he only had one more ranger to take care of. Noah then turned his attention to Gia and saw that she wasn't very happy. Gia tackled Noah in an attempt to pin him down. However, Noah managed to escape her grip and distanced himself from her.

"Sorry about this." Noah aimed his arrow and carefully controlled the power of the shot. The arrow would hurt, but at least it wouldn't kill her. To his surprise, Gia got up quickly and landed a strong punch to the side of his face. He recoiled in pain, but used the pain to fuel his fighting spirit. His friends were in danger, the very first friends he had truly made. Due to his extreme love of science, Noah was teased often about being a nerd or a geek. He never let those words stop him from his passion, but that didn't help his social reputation. The first person to see Noah as more than a nerd was Jake. Jake may have been Noah's only real friend for years, but then Noah became a power ranger. This team was starting to feel like his second family. He was going to bring back his family, the easy way or the hard way.

"Emma! Stop it!" Troy ducked an incoming kick to the face that could've taken his head off. He backed away and held up his hands. "It's us Emma, it's me, Troy. We aren't going to hurt you. We just want to know what happened."

Emma took her aim, pressed the trigger, but shot nothing. Troy managed to roll away in the nick of time. He looked back to where he was standing and saw that her shot was poorly aimed. Even if he didn't move, the blast wouldn't have hit him. It was a good fifteen feet away from where he was standing earlier. It didn't make sense. Next to Noah, she was probably one of the best when it came to accuracy. There was no way that she would miss her target that badly.

Emma fired another shot except this time, it wasn't aimed for Troy. Noah was about to land a decisive blow, but was knocked of his feet by the blast. He looked to his chest at where he was shot and stared. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt that bad. He was sure it would leave a mark, but it wasn't as strong as it could've been. If Emma wanted to, that shot could've nearly killed him.

Troy got up and rushed towards Emma. He grabbed her weapon before she could fire, and threw away. Troy then grabbed her wrists and pulled her close. "Emma, I'm begging you to stop this!"

Emma was thankful for her helmet or else Troy would've seen her watery eyes. She wanted to assure him that everything was okay, but she couldn't afford to do that right now. She couldn't let him know her plan quite yet, she had to do this alone.

"Hit me." She growled back. Emma twisted her arms in order to get the leverage on Troy. He lost his grip and Emma pushed him back. Before anyone could do anything else, Gia barked a command.

"Emma! We need to retreat now!" She pointed to the now unconscious Jake that was lying on the ground. Troy looked at Noah, surprised that he would do that to his best friend.

"Tough love." Noah merely shrugged his shoulders and watched as Gia ran to Jake. Emma shot the ground and when the smoke cleared, they were gone.

"Damn it!" Troy yelled as he stomped on the ground. He felt like he had failed again. It was his fault for not paying attention and losing Emma. His friends were right there in front of him, and he couldn't do anything. He didn't feel like the stereotypical strong red ranger, he felt like a pathetic excuse for a person that couldn't save his friends.


	6. A Cure

Emma, Gia, and Jake were back inside Vrak's hideout. It was simply a cave, only lit by natural light, along with a few pieces of Vrak's alien technology. Gia was tending to Jake's wounds while Emma was off in her own little corner. Her fight with her friends replayed over and over in her head. In a way, she felt like she betrayed them. She tried her best to hold back, but she could only do so much before Vrak could notice. Emma hated to admit it, but she was glad that she was forced to retreat. Vrak would eventually notice her holding back and then ask questions.

Truth be told, Emma wasn't under Vrak's control at all. She had taken Tensou's cure and injected it into herself so she could be immune from whatever the chip did. Tensou claimed that the chip was like a virus that overtook the user's brain, but could easily be overridden with a proper antidote. Emma reached for her pocket and took out two small syringes filled with a blue liquid.

She looked at it and sighed, "I need to get this done, now."

Emma carefully placed the syringes back in her pocket and walked towards Gia. She knew that she couldn't inject it into them just yet. Vrak was watching them twenty-four seven and kept track of almost everything they did. This was the reason why Emma had gone undercover; Vrak would tell Jake and Gia to retreat the moment he sensed trouble. Due to the chip's powers, they would instantly obey without any hesitation. Therefore, the rangers wouldn't have an opportunity to inject the cure. Now, Emma just needed to find the opportunity to inject it into her friends and then swiftly escape. Not only was her life at risk, but the lives of her friends too. Her friend's lives were in her hands right now. Honestly, she didn't know how she was going to do it, but she promised herself that she would find a way. The right time would have to come eventually.

"How's Jake doing?" Emma peeked over Gia's shoulder and saw a passed out Jake covered in a few bandages.

"They're nothing serious, but he shouldn't have been taken out so seriously." Gia scoffed. "I can't even believe that he let that little nerd hit him."

Emma knew she had to act the part, so she played along. She would apologize later. "I know! Noah shouldn't have even touched him. He's just a weakling. He got lucky when he hit Jake in the head."

"Exactly… but whatever. Jake should be waking up any second now anyways."

"Well, he better wake up soon." Gia and Emma turned around and saw Vrak entering inside. They got on one knee and bowed their heads. "We'll need him in my next phase."

"What's our next plan of action?" Gia asked.

"It involves the nuclear power plant that you saw earlier. While you were distracting the rangers, I went inside the building and got the finishing radioactive materials to make a small bomb." Vrak smirked. "The other rangers can heal from cuts and bruises in their civilian form, but they'll never stand a chance against radioactive poisoning. They'll die a slow and painful death."

"But if we come out holding a bomb, surely the cops will come. The cops will just make things harder for us."

"Don't worry; you'll all be in a remote area so that no one, but the rangers, will be there. It'll just be the pathetic rangers and you guys."

"But how will we escape? If we're there, then won't we get poisoned too?"

"Are you questioning my authority?" Vrak yelled. "How dare you question your master!"

Gia shrank into submission and quickly apologized. She walked towards Jake, who was starting to stir awake. She would take it upon herself to inform him about Vrak's plan.

Emma gulped when she heard this. Vrak obviously wouldn't care about their safety whatsoever. If they died, then he probably wouldn't care. If they survived, then he would continue to use them as pawns. She needed to get Gia and Jake back on the right side, and fast. She couldn't afford to wait it out much longer now.

-Unexpected Enemies-

Back at the command center, Troy was pacing back and forth. He was disappointed in himself for not being able to rescue his friends again. However, even though he was frustrated, he couldn't help but think about Emma's strange behavior. He had worked alongside her long enough to know that something was off. Her shots were poorly aimed, and she seemed very hesitant throughout the entire fight.

"Tensou can you run the recording of the recent fight?" The little robot nodded and pressed a few buttons. The screen popped up on the wall and Troy carefully watched his teammates' movements.

"Why do you need to see the fight?" Noah asked.

"Look carefully. Notice how Jake and Gia are going all out?"

"Oh, I remember them going all out all right. I don't even know how I survived." Noah mumbled while rubbing his bruised chest.

"Now look at Emma, watch how she seems… hesitant. Does that look like the Emma we know?"

Noah carefully watched the screen for a few moments. "You're right." Noah breathed. He walked closer to the screen in order to get a better look. He noticed that her punches felt pulled, and that her shots were inaccurate. If Gia and Jake were fighting with everything they got, then why wasn't Emma does the same?

"Wait, Emma was fighting against you?" Tensou asked.

"Yeah, she disappeared after our first fight with Jake and Gia. We think that Vrak got to her while we weren't paying attention." Noah answered.

"Well, that's a possibility, but I doubt that's the reason."

Troy's interest peaked when he heard the robot's response. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

The robot sighed, knowing that he was going to need to explain everything. "Emma didn't disappear after the fight, she came in here. She noticed some strange chip on Gia and Jake's neck and asked me to analyze it. It turns out that it's the same device that's controlling Jake and Gia. I then made an antidote for it and gave it to her. What she did after that, I don't know."

"And why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Troy asked through clutched teeth.

"You were so busy scaring me, so I never got a chance." Troy felt his anger rise and had to take several deep breaths in order to keep a somewhat calm composure. One of the reasons why Gosei chose Troy to be the leader was due to his level headed thinking under immense amounts of pressure. He knew that he couldn't lash out now, nothing would get solved if that happened.

"Look Troy, I know you want to get them back, but it's already late. If we stay out any longer, our parents are going to know that something's up. We don't need to get in anymore trouble."

Troy looked at his watched and realized that Noah was right. It was close to midnight, and Troy hadn't been home all day. Earlier in the day, Noah had texted his parents and told them that he was at Jake's house. On the other hand, Troy had texted his parents and told him that he was eating dinner out with his friends. Both of their parents knew of their lack of social skills, so they allowed it. However, there was such a thing called curfew and they really didn't want more trouble.

"Wait, what about the parents of Jake and the girls?" Troy asked. He had just realized that their parents had no idea where their children were. The chances of Vrak remembering that the ranger's had families were highly unlikely. "There's no way Vrak would ask them to shoot their parents a quick call/text to assure their parents that they're okay."

"Don't worry about that." Noah smirked. "I might or might not have used the command center's computer systems to send messages to their parents that said that they were sleeping over at my house."

"Noah, you're freaking amazing!" Troy smiled slightly. Noah grinned with pride at his response. No one had ever recognized him for his work, so it felt good to get some credit. "We'll figure out the rest of this first thing in the morning."


	7. Late Night Thoughts

It was way past midnight, but Troy couldn't fall asleep yet. His mind was racing everywhere. He was worried for his friends, but at the same time, he felt anger. He was angry at himself for not being able to do anything to save his friends. He was even angrier at the fact that Emma had gone off on her own. He hated this feeling of confusion, was he supposed to trust her, or not? In fact, did she not trust him enough to tell him what she was going to do?

Troy groaned and flopped onto his bed. He wiped his face with his hands and sighed. He was angry, but he would hold that all in for later. For now, he needed to get his team back together as a whole. He needed a plan.

He thought back to the two previous fights and tried to think about what he did wrong. During the first fight, Emma and Troy had split up and picked their respective opponent. It didn't end so well, but then again, they were caught off guard. During the second fight, Noah and Troy had separated and tried their best to handle their opponent. Like the first one, it didn't end up so well either. Suddenly, it all clicked in Troy's head. The common factor between the two fights was that they split up. Obviously, it didn't work, so that must mean that they needed to handle the next clash a different way. Instead of dividing themselves up, they needed to focus on one person and work together to take that person down. Once that person was down, they would take him or her, and bring them back to the command center. If Tensou was able to make an antidote before, surely he could make it again.

The only question left was, who were they were going to get first, and how? Emma was a no go because he wasn't sure where she stood at the moment. If Emma was faking the entire thing, then he wouldn't have to worry about her just yet. Troy thought about targeting Gia; after all, she is the team's second in command. However, Troy was starting to think about the long run. Gia would be an important asset, but right now, the team needed strength. The odds weren't in their favor due to the fact that it's a two versus three match. Troy and Noah were only outnumbered by one, but that could still make a big difference. Troy's came to the final decision of targeting and capturing Jake. Right now, Troy and Noah needed more strength and firepower, so Jake would be the obvious choice. After all, he's probably the physically the strongest person on the team. With Jake back on their side, it would be much easier to get back Gia and Emma.

Now, Troy just had to figure out how the heck he was going to do all of this. After a few moments of thinking, Troy had an idea. Noah and Troy would have to isolate Jake and quickly knock him out. If worse comes to worse, Noah could use his bow gun to keep the girls away while Troy took on Jake in a single duel. Then again, Troy also didn't know what Vrak had planned. There were so many possibilities that could potentially happen. Troy just guessed that he would have to make the final decision on how to get Jake once he saw the situation and assessed it.

Troy looked to the side of his bed and saw his alarm clock sitting on his little side table. Once again, he groaned at the sight of the time. It was almost two in the morning. He didn't think that his late night thoughts would eat up this much of his sleep time. Troy took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted into slumber.

-Unexpected Enemies-

Just like Troy, Noah couldn't catch any sleep either. He had been laying in bed for the past hour. All he did was stare at the empty ceiling while getting lost in thought. A few of his first real friends were in the hands of the enemy. He had just fought and knocked out his best friend, granted that it was only a swift chop that hit the pressure point between his head and neck. Nevertheless, this whole thing felt strange to him.

This whole time, Noah had been trying to tell Troy that things were going to be alright; however, Noah was just as worried. He perfectly understood Troy's pain because he felt the same exact thing. He felt horrible for fighting his friends. He felt like he had failed his friends, especially his best friend, Jake. He felt like they were counting on him, but couldn't do anything.

Noah looked to the other side of his room where his morpher was laying on his desk and sighed. "Am I really cut out for this?"

Noah knew that he was physically the weakest person on the team. Growing up, Noah wasn't really into sports. He was the type of kid that would sit inside and do homework while all the other kids played games outside. Instead of running around, he would read books. Sure he made it up with his smarts, but what good was that on the battlefield? He would fight with everything he had, but he wasn't sure if that was going to be enough. What was he going to do, think his way out of the situation?

"Wait a second.." Noah whispered to himself. "Maybe that isn't such a bad idea."

Noah quietly peeled himself out of his bed, careful to not make any noise so his parent's wouldn't wake up. He tip toed to his morpher and teleported to the command center. As usual, Gosei's face was unlit and Tensou was in his own corner working on some project.

"Blue ranger, what are you doing here?" Tensou had seen him teleport in and was shocked. He read his internal clock and saw that it was extremely late; most humans would be sleeping by now. Unlike him, humans required sleep in order to get rest so that they'll function properly later.

"Couldn't sleep. Can I help you with anything?" Noah knew that he wasn't going to be able to sleep, so he decided to use his time more wisely. Noah loved working on experiments. He loved the science of things and figuring out how it worked. Sometimes, he would even force Jake to be his test subject time to time. He wasn't sure how useful he would be on the battlefield, so he decided to work on something he knew he could do. Noah knew that he wasn't useless, but he wanted to do more. He wanted to feel like he did something more.

"Well, I was about to make another antidote just in case you guys needed it. I'm warning you, it'll take some time. I still need to gather the materials and the process to make it quite lengthy."

"That's fine." Noah smiled as he walked over to the little robot. "Maybe it'll go by faster if we work together."


	8. One Hour

It was early in the morning and Troy was surprised to see Noah sleeping in the command center. In fact, he himself had just woken up not too long ago. He pretty much threw on some clothes, grabbed a breakfast bar, and raced out of the house to deal with their latest problem. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep, but he wouldn't allow that to stop him

Troy walked towards Noah to wake him up. He had no idea why Noah was really here, but decided to not question it. Knowing Noah and his scientific self, Troy assumed that he had been working on a project with Tensou like usual. All Troy wanted was to make sure that Noah knew the plan for the next upcoming battle. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't have a little fun. With a devious smirk, Troy poked his friend several times before he slowly stirred awake. Noah was completely unaware that Troy was behind him and wiped his face with his hands. Noah vaguely remembered falling asleep in the command center after a late night of working with Tensou. He peeled his face off from the table and checked the time.

'Shit! I'm going to be late for school!" Noah cried. He quickly grabbed his stuff and was about to race out of the command center, but paused after hearing a voice.

"Umm, blue ranger, it's Sunday." Gosei spoke. "I believe what you humans call school is not open today"

"Great, now you decide to be awake." Noah mumbled. His face slightly turned red from the embarrassment due to the fact that an alien plastered onto the wall had to remind him that he didn't have to go to school.

Noah turned back around and saw Troy. "Oh uhh, Troy... you're here." Just when he thought that things couldn't be more awkward, the world quickly proved him wrong. Troy just had to be there. Well, at least that meant that he didn't have to go to school.

"Well, I was the one who woke you up." Troy smirked. "Someone had to do it, so… do you always drool?"

Noah face palmed himself and groaned. He didn't always drool, but it would happen occasionally. Of course this just had to be one of the days. "Don't you dare mention this to any of the others. I think I had an enough embarrassment to last me awhile."

Troy shook his head and chuckled. "Hey, I'm not the one who tried running out the door to get to school. I know that you love school and all, but do you really wanna go that badly on a Sunday?"

"Am I ever going to live this down?"

"Not anytime soon."

Noah rolled his eyes. "This is what I get for making friends."

"That's what friends are for."

"Give me a break. I stayed up all night helping Tensou with the antidotes. At least cut me a little slack, I'm tired!"

"Fine, I'll stop. We have more important things to discuss anyways." Troy's demeanor quickly changed to a serious one. He thought of the reason why he went to the command center in the first place. "We need to get them back."

"Woah, bipolar much?"

"No more time for joking. Let's get to work."

Noah pouted and crossed his arms. "I think I like the other Troy better."

"Too bad, this Troy wants to get to work now. We need to get our friends back."

"Well, no dip Sherlock. Isn't that what we've been trying to do?"

"Just listen to my plan…"

-Unexpected Enemies-

Jake, Gia, and Emma were literally in the middle of nowhere. Vrak had already sent them to the isolated location with the radioactive bomb. Certain that the other rangers would show up soon, Vrak had ordered them to initiate the countdown.

Emma's heart raced every time she looked at the countdown. According to the timer, they only had one hour until the bomb exploded. In other words, they had one hour to get themselves out of this little predicament. Emma knew that the bomb was programmed to explode in only one mile radius, but that wasn't small enough for her taste. The bomb's radius was short, but the impact would be dangerously strong. Emma was hoping that they had a plan because she was starting to run out of ideas. She had no idea what to do at this point. Vrak was still watching them, so she wouldn't be able to give them the cure without him knowing. If he found out, then he would surely send Gia and Jake back. Then, Vrak would know about her "betrayal" therefore, she wouldn't be able to save them from the inside. However, she couldn't leave them to potentially die in the explosion either, she wouldn't allow it. At this point, she just had to trust in her teammates.

Emma took a deep breath and looked to her friends sitting next to her. The three of them were carefully searching for any sights of Noah and Troy. Vrak wanted them to guard the bomb so they wouldn't have a chance to deactivate it. Emma paused for a moment, thought about her options, and shook her head. If there was a slight chance that she could talk them out of it, then she would need to take it. She was out of choices at this point

"Do you think we'll be able to escape?"

Jake rolled his eyes at what seemed like a silly question. "Of course we will. Master Vrak will probably tell us a quick escape route before the bomb goes off. He would never do anything to hurt us."

"But what if he doesn't? What if he expects us to get out on our own?

"Don't you have any faith?"

"I'm just saying…" Emma shrugged her shoulders. "We may need to find our own way out. Maybe we should just go now."

"No!" Gia stood up and looked down at Emma with anger in her eyes. "You already saw how furious Vrak got when I asked questions. It was my mistake and I should have just listened to him in the first place. I shouldn't have disobeyed his orders, and you won't either. We're staying here and it's final!"

"I'm just trying to look out for us."

"Then that's your mistake. All I care about is me and Vrak. I don't care about you and you!" Gia sneered as she pointed to Jake and Emma. She grabbed her morpher and stomped away to keep watch on the other side.

"Whatever. You're all just a pain in my ass." Jake scoffed and walked to opposite side of Gia's position.

Emma cursed under her breath. "Well that went well."


	9. Countdown

Troy and Noah were carefully hiding behind an abandoned building's wall, just out of Jake's line of sight. They were surprised to see him separated from the others, but gratefully accepted it. This would make it a lot easier for them to extract him without much trouble.

Noah gave a silent nod to Troy, picked up a decently sized rock from the ground, and threw it at the building that was next to theirs. Jake seemed to pick up on the noise and got up. He made his way over to the building where the rock was thrown and cautiously inspected the area. While Jake's back was turned, Troy cautiously tip toed his way over to Jake to knock him out. His years of karate gave him the knowledge of where to knock someone out without hurting them too much. He had hit the pressure point at the side of Jake's neck and watched him drop to the ground.

Noah ran over to Troy and helped him drag Jake to the side before anyone could see them. So far, things were going just as planned. Hopefully things would stay that way. Troy held on to Jake and the three of them teleported into the command center. As soon as they got there, they gently laid down Jake and strapped him to a table. Noah hated the idea of trapping his best friend, but it was for the best. He would rather see his friend upset instead of seeing him dead.

"Tensou," Noah said. "Is the cure ready?"

"It sure is." Tensou appeared beside the boys with the small syringe in his little robotic hands. Troy and Jake watched as Tensou pressed the needle into Jake's arm. Minutes passed, but nothing had happened.

"Why isn't it working? Why isn't he waking up?" Troy looked at Tensou and spoke with a slight frustrated tone in in his voice.

"He'll be out for a few more minutes. It's just part of the antidote."

"Every minute we wait here is a minute wasted."

"We need to be smart Troy." Noah said. "We have Jake now. Once he wakes up, we'll give him a quick check up and then get out of here. We can't afford to fail this time and you know it. Jake will pull through soon."

Just then, Jake started to stir. The first thing he noticed was his hand strapped to a table, so he started to panic.

"What the hell!" Jake yelled while fighting through the restraints. The last thing that he clearly remembered was being held by Vrak. He didn't want his last few moments to be spent as some creepy experiment.

Noah ran over to his best friend in an attempt to calm him down. He could already see that his friend was back and smiled. Jake saw Noah appear and started to calm down slowly.

"You're alright Jake." Noah smiled. "Tensou is just going to run a few tests to make sure it's really you."

"Of course it's me." Jake rolled his eyes. "Who else would it be?"

"He's all clear." Tensou said. He started to undo the bonds holding Jake and then wheeled away to his console.

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy." Jake held his head with his hands and looked to his friends. "Can someone explain why my head hurts so much?"

"We were hoping that you would tell us."

"Last thing I remember is getting captured by Vrak. He took us to some isolated cave. He put some weird thing on Gia's neck and that's the last thing I can clearly remember. There's a few blurs of fighting against you guys, but I can't really remember all of it yet."

"So Tensou was right." Jake faced Noah and gave him a curious look. "You two were brainwashed by Vrak due to the effects of the chip."

"The chip?" Jake put his hand against the back of his neck where the chip used to be. However, when he placed his hand in the there, he felt nothing.

"We injected the cure into you. The best way to get rid of a virus was to counter it with another one, so that's exactly what we did." Noah opened up his palm and inside was Vrak's chip. "Once we injected it into you, it fell off."

"Wait a second. Us two.." Jake started to recall Noah's previous statement. "Me and… GIA!" Jake's eyes widened in fear. "What happened to her? Is she here? Is she okay?

Troy and Noah looked to each other nervously and scratched their heads. "Well… Gia is still under Vrak's control."

Jake groaned in frustration. "This is all my fault." He paced around the command center and ran his hand through his hair. "Gia wouldn't have gotten captured if I had just held on tightly to my morpher. If I did, then that ugly blue faced monster wouldn't have overpowered us."

Noah placed his hand on his friend's shoulders and gave him a small comforting smile. "It'll be okay buddy. We'll get them back."

"Them?" Jake questioned. He looked around and only then had he noticed that Emma was missing also. In fact, he hadn't seen her ever since he woke up in the command center. "Did Vrak get her too?"

"We're not really sure. It's a long story."

Troy was off in the corner tapping his foot impatiently. He was glad that Jake was okay, but they had more important things to attend to. He stepped forward and was about to say something, but Gosei beat him to it.

"Rangers," Gosei spoke. "There's a radioactive signal coming from the location you just came from. Tensou, can you scan what that may be?"

"Oh no no no no no." Tensou continued to press a few more buttons on the computer before a screen came up.

Three gasps were heard as the sight of a bomb appeared on a screen. What was even worse was that they saw that the counter didn't have much time left.

"We need to get back there now!" Troy barked. In an instant, the three boys were morphed and disappeared from the command center.

Jake led the two other boys to the bomb's location. As soon they got there, Noah got to work on deactivating the bomb. They looked at the timer and saw that it only had ten minutes left. He didn't know how to work around the alien technology, but he knew enough to get his way around it.

"I'm not familiar with this kind of technology. It might take me a few minutes until I can deactivate."

"Well you better work fast." Troy said as he got into a fighting stance. Gia and Emma had shown up and looked ready for another fight. "Jake and I will protect you while you take care of the bomb. Just focus on that, it's our top priority."

"No one here is getting out alive." Gia yelled. She charged at Jake and morphed at the same time. Before anyone could do anything, Jake and Gia were already locked into a fierce battle.

"So you're back on the goody two-shoes side, huh?" Gia taunted as she swiped at him with her tiger claw.

"I'm back where I belong." Jake blocked her weapon with his own and pushed hers away. "It's where you belong too."

Gia merely scoffed at his response and darted towards him with great speed. When she got closer to him, she kicked up some sand towards Jake's face. Jake was grateful for his helmet because it prevented the sand from getting to his eyes, but by the time the sand cleared, Gia was gone. Suddenly, Jake felt a strong pain hit his back which caused him to fall forward with a cry.

Before he could get up, Gia kicked him on his side. To add to that, Gia pulled out her blaster and shot several rounds at Jake. Luckily, Jake rolled out of the way just in the nick of time.

From the ground, Jake looked at Gia with a frown underneath his helmet. He thought that he would have the advantage with his strength, but found it hard to get the upper hand. Of course Jake didn't really want to hurt Gia, but this was getting ridiculous. Gia was fighting with anger that matched his strength, but still had enough sense to fight smartly.

Jake looked at the counter and groaned. He had no time for this. He would have to find a way to overpower her in one move. He got up slowly and charged forward once again.

On the other hand, Troy was having a bit more luck with Emma. He no longer held the same restraints he had held earlier. This time, he was going all out. Emma struggled to keep up with him and wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up.

Troy managed to get an opening and kicked Emma to the ground. While she was on the ground, he summoned his sword and slashed at her. Her morpher fell from her belt and Troy stepped on it. Emma grabbed her shoulder and released a small whimper of pain. Immediately, Troy had regretted his actions

He took a small step forward. "Emma, I'm so…"

"Troy!" Both Jake and Noah yelled. They saw the unnecessary move Troy did and rushed to him. Jake kicked Gia down and ran over to Troy while Noah made his way over too. What Troy did was definitely uncalled for. She was already on the ground; there was no need to take it any further.

While Jake and Noah were busy with Troy, Emma saw this as an opportunity for them to escape. She looked at the countdown and saw that they were down to five minutes. She silently slid herself closer to the boys and in one sudden motion, pressed the teleportation button on all of their morphers. They were practically out of time. At least this way, the boys would be safe.

She ran to Gia and helped her up from the ground. Gia demorphed and glared at her friend. She angrily jabbed her finger at Emma's chest. "That wasn't what Vrak wanted. We were supposed to keep them occupied here! What do you think you were doing?"

"Saving your life." Emma muttered. At this point, she didn't know what else to do, so she went with her last option.

"What…" Before Gia could finish her sentence, Emma pulled out a small blue syringe and jabbed in into her friend's arm. Gia eye's slowly closed and then slumped forward into Emma's arms. Emma carefully took her into her arms and grabbed her morpher. She pressed the teleportation button, but nothing happened.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Her only way out must have gotten damaged when Troy stepped on her morpher. With no other options left, Emma placed Gia on her back and slowly got up. Emma beyond tired and hurt, but nothing else would hurt as much as losing her friend, especially if it was on her watch

"What have you been eating?" Emma muttered. She managed to get up with Gia on her back and took once last glance at the bomb. No one was around the area, so she didn't have to worry about getting any civilians out. She had three minutes. Three minutes to get as far away as possible. She kept a count in her head so she could precisely time when the explosion would occur. And with two tired legs, she sprinted away as fast as she possibly could.

Time passed and Emma knew that the bomb would go off soon.

Three.

Emma prayed to whatever god was out there that they would be safe. If she didn't survive, then she wanted Gia to at least be alive.

Two.

She used whatever energy she had left and made one last rapid dash.

One.

She placed herself so Gia was on the ground while Emma was on top of her. She covered her as much as she could and closed her eyes as the explosion went off.


	10. Command Center Talks

"What do you mean you won't let us go back!" Troy shouted. Once Emma had tricked them into teleporting into the command center, they had immediately tried to go back. However, Gosei disabled their teleporting abilities because he didn't want them to get caught in explosion. There was no way that they would be able to save the others and get back in one piece.

"It is too risky. I cannot afford for you rangers to take a risk like that."

"We're fucking power rangers! We take risks every single day!"

"I just could not allow you to take this one. There are extremely dangerous radioactive particles in the air in that area. There is no telling what would happen if your human bodies were exposed to it."

"Screw you Gosei." Troy growled as he stomped away.

"Oh no." Noah whispered. Gosei wouldn't allow any of them to teleport back, so Noah did the next best thing; he had pulled up a visual of the bomb. He took off his glasses and wiped them, hoping that his eyes were just playing tricks on him. Sadly, he seemed to be right, there was nothing to see. The bomb had gone off and the girls were nowhere in sight.

"You alright Noah?" Jake asked. Gosei had proven to have a good reason for all his actions, but he had to side with the red ranger this time. After all, it should've been their decision to decide whether or not they would risk their lives. It was Gosei's powers, but their lives. He was just as upset as Troy, but a little more forgiving. Jake was angry, but he wasn't going to waste his time arguing with the galactic alien.

"The bomb went off..." Emma had managed to teleport them into the command center, but none of them knew what had happened to her and Gia after that. Communications got cut off and Gosei had refused for the rangers to leave the command center.

"It exploded…" Noah choked. He could barely get those last two words out of his mouth. While he was working on the bomb, he could've sworn that there was still more time left. Had time passed by that quickly?

"What do you mean it exploded?"

"It went boom boom. I mean, there's really nothing else to say. It went off a few minutes after we arrived inside the command center."

"What about Gia and Emma?" Jake asked worriedly. "Do you know where they are?"

"I've already tried to look for them." Noah shook his head solemnly. "Something is blocking their signal. I can't get a read on their location quite yet. I don't know how much longer we have to wait until it clears up."

Hearing this, Troy stomped over to his console in an attempt to locate their missing friends, but to no avail, he ended up with the same result as Noah. He let out a frustrated scream, kicked over his console, and retreated back to the command center's corner.

At this point, Troy was beyond frustrated. He felt angry at Gosei for not allowing him to leave the command center. Having no idea what had happened to the girls killed him in the inside. However, Troy still felt angry towards Emma. What the hell was she thinking? Had the girl he liked betrayed him and the team? Troy couldn't figure out what her game was and it sparked an anger he had never felt. With his back on the wall, he sunk to the ground with his hands burying his face.

He was the team leader. He was supposed to keep everyone in check, but make sure they were also safe at the same time. Based on what was currently happening, he felt like he had failed as their leader and as their friend.

"Troy…?" Noah called out.

"Shut the fuck up and just leave me the alone!" Troy yelled from under his arms.

Jake and Noah looked at their broken leader and then to each other. Because they were friends for years, they could tell that they were on the same page, but then again, anyone could probably tell that something was up with Troy. It was more than this whole bomb ordeal, there was something more. Jake gave Noah a quick nod and hoped that he would understand what it had meant.

"Hey Tensou, wanna help me fix Troy's console?" Noah asked as he made his way to the fallen piece of technology.

"He shouldn't have broken it in the first place." Tensou whined. "Do you know how long it took me to set those consoles up in the first place? Not to mention all the rare metals that I used to create it. Geez, I get no appreciation here."

"It's okay." Noah smiled. Noah wasn't sure if Tensou had emotions, but he could still relate to the tiny robot. He himself used to feel underappreciated and belittled, but eventually got over it after realizing that he didn't need recognition to feel important. He just wanted to do what he could to help others. Although, it did feel nice to be appreciated once in a while. "I'm sure Troy didn't mean it. Here, just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"Really?"

"Of course." Noah gave him a small nod.

"Thanks!" Tensou beamed with pleasure. Usually, he did all the maintenance and repair by himself, so it felt nice to get help once in a while.

"Oh and Tensou," Noah called.

"Yes?"

"You are appreciated." Noah didn't think that robots could smile, but he could've sworn that he saw a genuine smile appear on the tiny machine's face. Seeing the robot's happy expression even caused Noah to give off a small grin. The two of them then happily skipped to the other side of the command center in an attempt to fix the console.

Meanwhile, Jake walked towards Troy and sat beside him. Jake was grateful that Noah caught his signal so that he would be able to talk to Troy alone. If Troy didn't want to share it to the team, then maybe he would share it with at least one person.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked softly.

Troy lifted his head from his hands and looked at Jake like he was crazy. "You got to be kidding me. First of all, we don't know where our friends are, yet we're stuck here. We have no idea how they're doing and our communications with them are severed. We also don't know if Vrak got back to them or if they're stranded and hurt. Not to mention our situation with Emma too. You and I both know that she could've betrayed us."

"How could you even think that? After everything we've been through, you now decide to question her loyalty?"

"She had the antidote and took off with it. And she didn't just take it off to just anywhere; she took it all the way to Vrak."

"Have you even tried to understand what she was trying to do?" Jake was starting to feel disgusted with Troy's accusations. It was like he was a completely different person. The Troy he remembered would never assume these things and act so cold. What he was saying made some sense, but he could at least give her some benefit of the doubt.

"You know, Gia's not here. You're not earning any brownie points for defending Emma."

"This is between you and me Troy." Jake glared at Troy. He didn't want to show any signs of aggression to Troy, but it seemed like he needed a different approach. Nothing seemed to be getting through his thick skull. "You took things way too far earlier. And don't act like I didn't see it. I saw what you did. While Emma was on the ground, you attacked her with an unnecessary swipe to the shoulder! What the heck were you thinking! She was already down; you didn't need to hurt her further! Whether she's on our side or not, she is still our friend. The least we could do is fight her with honor, not some cheap move that my grandma could've done."

"I wasn't thinking!" Troy's voice started to get louder as he recalled that moment. He remembered feeling guilt and shame wash over him right after it happened. He didn't know why he did it, something inside of him just snapped.

"Well you obviously weren't! You've been acting a bit off ever since you found out about the whole antidote thing. Get it off your chest now before you decide to hurt anyone else. I don't care who it is or whether is physical or emotional pain; if I find out that you were the cause, you're dead.

"I'm mad, okay! How would you feel if the girl you loved betrayed you?"

Jake took a deep breath to calm himself and smiled. He hated to be so rough, but at least he knew what was truly bothering him. The thought of someone you trusted deeply betraying you could really mess someone up.

"You don't know that yet." Jake said. "She could be as much as a victim as me or Gia. We'll figure this out later, okay? We don't give up, remember?"

"I just don't want to get my hopes up." Troy muttered. "I don't want to get my hopes high only for it to be crushed."

"That doesn't mean that you can't believe in them."

Troy looked up at Jake with a small smile and gave him a quick appreciative thanks. After everything he had done, he agreed that he really did need a reality check. All the worry and pressure had messed with his thoughts a little too much.

"Maybe we should all go home." Noah suggested from his side of the room. He was able to fix a good amount of the damage from the console and decided that he could just finish it tomorrow. "It's been a long day for all of us."

"But what about the girls?"

"The scanners aren't going to help, and it'd be suicide to walk through a radioactive wasteland. Maybe we'll have better luck with the scanners tomorrow."

"We can't leave them to die!" Jake proclaimed.

"Maybe they're safe and sound." Noah suggested. "They probably teleported us away so that they could make their escape."

Troy and Jake sighed in defeat and was forced to comply. They understood where Noah was coming from, but that didn't stop them from worrying. For Jake, the girl he had a crush on for years could possibly be fighting for her life through that radioactive death land. He would never forgive himself if he figured out that he could've done something to help her. As for Troy, he cared about his friends. His feelings towards Emma were jumbled up and confused, but he would save that for later. Right now, he had to make sure he did anything and everything to ensure his teammates' safety. Anything.


	11. Betrayal?

Emma's eyes shot open as she took a deep gasp for air. The last thing she remembered was covering Gia up with her own body before the bomb exploded. Her hand instinctively went to her head, but couldn't bring herself to move it. She looked down and saw that her wrists were restrained to what seemed to be a cot, preventing her from going anywhere.

"Not again." Emma muttered. She looked to her side and noticed something slightly familiar about this place. "Wait a second," Emma paused as she got a better look at her surroundings. "I've been here before."A slight smile etched onto Emma's face when she realized that she was inside the command center's infirmary. She didn't want to question how or why she got into the command; she was just grateful that she was finally safe and sound.

Then, a sick feeling occurred inside Emma's stomach. If she remembered everything correctly, Gia was supposed to be by her side too. There was no logical explanation to why they would be separated unless…

"GIA!" Emma yelled as she started to pull on her restraints. Now that she was thinking about it, she didn't understand why she was cuffed to the cot either. Under normal circumstances, Emma should've been free to get up and move after waking up. She shook her head in an attempt to get rid of all the negative thoughts; however, that didn't stop them from coming at all.

What if Vrak had gotten Gia back while she was unconscious? What if the antidote failed and Gia went back to Vrak? A large lump appeared in Emma's throat as the last thought passed through her mind. What if Gia was dead? Had all of her attempts been for nothing? Did she fail?

Relief washed over Emma as she saw Tensou, Troy, Jake, Noah, and Gia walk in, or in Tensou's case, wheel in. She took a quick glance at Gia and saw that she was still bandaged and pretty banged up. That was when she realized how much her own body ached. Severe burns from the bomb covered almost her entire body while bruises covered the rest. Most of her injuries were already treated and bandaged, but she could still feel all the cuts on her body. She then noticed a large bandage on her right leg that went from her ankle to her knee which must have meant that there was a pretty nasty gash there. But none of that mattered to Emma as long as her friends were okay,

"You're okay!" Emma beamed with happiness. Gia rushed towards Emma to unlock the restraints, but was stopped by Troy's hand. He carried a deep frown as he shook his head. "We can't let her out yet."

"And why not?" Gia turned to Troy with a frown as she crossed her arms. Gia herself had only woken up a few hours ago and was extremely confused to what was happening at first. Jake and Noah had filled her in on some parts, but there were still a lot of unanswered questions. This one was just another question she had to add to her list.

"She's a filthy traitor." Troy growled.

"You don't know that!" Jake proclaimed. He thought that after his talk with Troy, he would keep a more open mind, but it seemed like Emma's presence set him off.

"Wait a second, traitor?" Gia asked with a shocked and puzzled look. She vaguely remembered Emma acting a bit weird considering she was supposed to be a "loyal" and ruthless soldier to Vrak. At the very last moment, Emma had jabbed her in the arm with the cure. It was that moment, before she blacked out, that made her realize that Emma was never under Vrak's control. Vrak would never order Emma to do something as stupid as that, it wouldn't make any sense. As she thought about it more, all the pieces fit together. But none of that explained why Troy would think that Emma is a traitor.

"Think about Gia, Emma took the only antidote we had and ran off to Vrak. Tensou already double checked to see if Emma had the chip in her, but he didn't find anything. That means she did it willingly. She brought the only cure we had to our enemy!"

"You know, I didn't hand it over to Vrak. He didn't even know that I had it." Emma stated. She was extremely confused to why Troy was acting like this and by the looks on the other boy's faces, they were just as confused too.

Troy turned to look down at Emma with an angry glare. "Then why didn't you tell us anything before you suddenly took off? You left me worried sick and clueless!"

"Me?" Noah pouted. Noah was with Troy the entire time and both of them had shared the same worry. Troy wasn't the only one who was concerned.

Troy seemed to ignore Noah's comment and continued with his rant. "You deceived us! You lied to us! And you fought against us when you didn't have to! If I can't trust you, then I sure as hell will not allow you to fight on this team with us."

"That's not your call to make!" Jake yelled. All they had to do was calmly talk about it and move on. This was getting out of hand and just downright ridiculous. Now that they were all back together on the same side, things were supposed to get better. But now it seems like everything got worse.

"I'm the red ranger, I'm the leader. I'll make the calls that I see fit." Troy growled quietly, but the venom in his voice was clear.

"Technically, only Gosei has the ability to make that call." Noah pointed out.

"Screw Gosei, he's never here when we need him anyways!" Troy pointed to the dim face on the wall. "Actually, if it weren't for me, then you two wouldn't even be alive. Gosei refused to for us to go out and get you guys. If I didn't sneak out to get you guys, then you probably would've been left for dead out there. You should be grateful right now."

"Yeah sure, whatever. You did the easy job of taking us back after we manage to get ourselves out." Gia mocked with an irritated tone in her voice." If I remember correctly, which I'm pretty sure I do, Emma was the one that got you guys to safety. I'm not doubting Noah's abilities, but I'm not sure if Noah had enough time to deactivate the bomb. I may have been under Vrak's control, but I wasn't stupid. She teleported the three of you back to the command center to ensure your safety. Then, while I was out cold, she picked me up and ran from the bomb while she was already tired and hurt. If anything, I should be grateful to Emma. Your little trip to us would've meant nothing if we were already dead."

"Shut up!" Emma screamed. Everyone, even Tensou, looked at her and saw her eyes starting to water. She knew there would be questions, but she didn't think that her actions would make things this bad. The friends that she fought so hard for to save were now fighting amongst themselves for what seemed like a pointless reason. It was time for a clear explanation.

"If you would just let me explain…"

"I don't wanna hear it." Troy abruptly stomped out of the room, not wanting to hear Emma's excuses. Before leaving the room, Troy paused at the doorway to turn around briefly. "I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"What?"

"You're a backstabbing, deceitful person, just like your father," he spat. And with that, Troy left, leaving the room that was now absolutely silent.

After getting over the shock of Troy's comment, Gia quickly undid Emma's restraints and pulled her in for a loving hug. "I'm so sorry." she whispered.

"It's fine; you didn't really do anything anyways." Emma spoke barely beyond a whisper, her eyes still focused on the door where Troy left from.

Gia touched Emma's hand. "No, I'm sorry for what that jerk just did." Then, Gia turned to look at the others, mainly Noah since she fought against him, with a sincere look on her face. "Also, I'm sorry for whatever I did or if I said anything wrong. I swear it wasn't me."

"If we're doing apologies, then I'm sorry too." Jake slightly raised his hand nervously. "I said and did some pretty nasty stuff too."

"Don't sweat about it guys." Noah said. "We know it wasn't really you. If anything, all of this was Vrak's fault. Man, he is really starting to become more trouble than we thought."

Now that the apologies were over with, Gia focused her attention on Emma. Part of her wanted to scold Emma for risking her life to save her own. In Gia's eyes, it was completely unnecessary, but to Emma, it was everything. Gia had a feeling that Emma had a fear of loneliness due to all her loved ones leaving her one way or another. She didn't admit it, but Gia knew. After all, her mom had died, her dad was in jail, she had no siblings, and none of her other relatives seemed to want her. Emma's actions seemed to be one out of pure love for her friends, but also one out of desperation.

Thinking about all of this made Gia want to cry, but then, Gia saw the sorrowful look in her friend's eyes. Troy's outburst was the last thing that the team needed, especially Emma. His last comment had been completely uncalled for. Bringing Mr. Goodall into this and even trying to compare him to Emma was beyond low. Mr. Goodall was a selfish man while Emma had been nothing but selfless. Mr. Goodall pushed all his loved ones away while Emma desperately held onto them. Mr. Goodall's intentions were spiteful while Emma's actions were noble and pure. Troy had no right to say those things about Emma.

Gia wrapped her arms around her best friend tightly in an attempt to comfort her. Gia wanted to punch a hole through Troy's face, but had to resist the strong urge to do so. Right now, her best friend needed her more. Plus, she would eventually need an explanation from the others to what had happened. If she was going to confront Troy later, then she was going to need all the sides of the story.

"Alright," Gia spoke. "Somebody tell me what the hell is going on."

"All I can say is that I think Troy felt betrayed." Jake said. Gia cocked her eyebrow, waiting for him to explain further, but Jake shook his head. "Sorry, that's really all I can say. The rest needs to come from him."

"Okay… whatever that means."

"I think I can do a little better." Noah spoke. "Long story short, after the first fight between you and Jake, Emma went missing. At first, we thought Vrak had gotten to her because no one seemed to know where she was. The next time we saw Emma, she was on your side fighting us. But then Tensou said that Emma had been in the command center, but suddenly left after completing the cure to counteract Vrak's chip. When Tensou ran the scan to see if Emma was infected, it came up as negative. It made it seem like Emma was working for Vrak willingly."

"Okay, I guess that kinda explains Troy's accusations." Gia looked down at Emma, who was still in her arms. She gently helped her get up and kept a steady hand on her back as support. "Your turn."

Emma quickly wiped the tears that were threatening to fall and started her side of the story. "Okay, yeah I sorta did run off with the antidote, but that was only because I had a plan. I found out that you guys were being controlled through those weird chips so I asked Tensou to make a cure."

"But didn't we capture you? I'm pretty sure Vrak planted a chip on you too."

"Well, he did, but I had already injected myself with the cure to build up immunity to it. I had to find a way to make Vrak think that I was on his side, so I played the role. I figured that if Vrak knew we had a cure, then he would never allow for us to get the opportunity to cure you."

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Noah asked.

Emma shook her head. "If Vrak managed to get you or Troy, then you probably would've blurted out that I wasn't really on Vrak's side. I didn't want to run that risk. There was no time to come up with any other solutions so I just went with it. I was nervous throughout this whole thing, but I did think this plan through. Whenever we did fight, I tried my best to pull my punches and hit non vital areas."

Noah thought back to the previous fights and realized that she was right. He remembered getting shot in the chest, but barely receiving anything more than a bruise. There was also that one time when Emma completely missed a shot that would've taken out Troy in an instant.

"The only thing I didn't anticipate was the bomb." Emma sighed. "I didn't expect that at all. Originally, I was going to wait for a time when Vrak wasn't paying attention to inject the cure into them. However, he was watching us like a hawk. The only time he wasn't spying on us was when the bomb was close to exploding. That was when I teleported you guys back to the command center and ran away with Gia."

"Look, I'm not trying to be rude, but how can we be absolutely positive that you're telling the truth?"

"I believe her." Gia spoke.

"How can you be so…"

"I believe her."

"But…"

"I. Believe. Her." Gia emphasized.

Jake smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. "Relax Noah, it'll be okay. If what Emma is saying is true,"

"It is true." Gia said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Then we really do owe her a lot." Jake finished with a slight chuckle. He flashed his goofy smile to Emma. "Thanks for everything, Emma. We need to hurry up and unite as a team, or else we'll never stand a chance against the aliens. All this fighting useless. Just please never do something that reckless ever again."

"I'll say." Gia said with a shake of her head. "It's not worth it."

"Was all of this worth it?" Emma thought as she continued to stare at the door.


End file.
